Autonomous Positioning of Piezoactuated Mechanism for Biological Cell Puncture gives a systematic and almost self-contained description of the many facets of advanced design, optimization, modeling, system identification, and advanced control techniques for positioning of the cell puncture mechanism with a piezoelectric actuator in micro/nanorobotics systems. To achieve biomedical applications, reliability design, modeling, and precision control are essential for developing engineering systems. With the advances in mechanical design, dynamic modeling, system identification, and control techniques, it is possible to expand the advancements in reliability design, precision control, and quick actuation of micro/nanomanipulation systems to the robot’s applications at the micro- and nanoscales, especially for biomedical applications. This book unifies existing and emerging techniques concerning advanced design, modeling, and advanced control methodologies in micropuncture of biological cells using piezoelectric actuators with their practical biomedical applications. The book is an essential resource for researchers within robotics, mechatronics, biomedical engineering, and automatic control society, including both academic and industrial parts. KEY FEATURES • Provides a series of latest results in, including but not limited to, design, modeling, and control of micro/nanomanipulation systems utilizing piezoelectric actuators • Gives recent advances of theory, technological aspects, and applications of advanced modeling, control, and actuation methodologies in cell engineering applications • Presents simulation and experimental results to reflect the micro/nano manipulation practice and validate the performances of the developed design, analysis, and synthesis approaches

Autonomous Positioning of Piezoactuated Mechanism for Biological Cell Puncture gives a systematic and almost self-contained description of the many facets of advanced design, optimization, modeling, system identification, and advanced control techniques for positioning of the cell puncture mechanism with a piezoelectric actuator in micro/nanorobotics systems. To achieve biomedical applications, reliability design, modeling, and precision control are essential for developing engineering systems. With the advances in mechanical design, dynamic modeling, system identification, and control techniques, it is possible to expand the advancements in reliability design, precision control, and quick actuation of micro/nanomanipulation systems to the robot’s applications at the micro- and nanoscales, especially for biomedical applications. This book unifies existing and emerging techniques concerning advanced design, modeling, and advanced control methodologies in micropuncture of biological cells using piezoelectric actuators with their practical biomedical applications. The book is an essential resource for researchers within robotics, mechatronics, biomedical engineering, and automatic control society, including both academic and industrial parts. KEY FEATURES • Provides a series of latest results in, including but not limited to, design, modeling, and control of micro/nanomanipulation systems utilizing piezoelectric actuators • Gives recent advances of theory, technological aspects, and applications of advanced modeling, control, and actuation methodologies in cell engineering applications • Presents simulation and experimental results to reflect the micro/nano manipulation practice and validate the performances of the developed design, analysis, and synthesis approaches

Robotic engineering inspired by biology—biomimetics—has many potential applications: robot snakes can be used for rescue operations in disasters, snake-like endoscopes can be used in medical diagnosis, and artificial muscles can replace damaged muscles to recover the motor functions of human limbs. Conversely, the application of robotics technology to our understanding of biological systems and behaviors—biorobotic modeling and analysis—provides unique research opportunities: robotic manipulation technology with optical tweezers can be used to study the cell mechanics of human red blood cells, a surface electromyography sensing system can help us identify the relation between muscle forces and hand movements, and mathematical models of brain circuitry may help us understand how the cerebellum achieves movement control. Biologically Inspired Robotics contains cutting-edge material—considerably expanded and with additional analysis—from the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO). These 16 chapters cover both biomimetics and biorobotic modeling/analysis, taking readers through an exploration of biologically inspired robot design and control, micro/nano bio-robotic systems, biological measurement and actuation, and applications of robotics technology to biological problems. Contributors examine a wide range of topics, including: A method for controlling the motion of a robotic snake The design of a bionic fitness cycle inspired by the jaguar The use of autonomous robotic fish to detect pollution A noninvasive brain-activity scanning method using a hybrid sensor A rehabilitation system for recovering motor function in human hands after injury Human-like robotic eye and head movements in human–machine interactions A state-of-the-art resource for graduate students and researchers in the fields of control engineering, robotics, and biomedical engineering, this text helps readers understand the technology and principles in this emerging field.

A Nobel Prize-winning biologist tells the riveting story of his race to discover the inner workings of biology's most important molecule "Ramakrishnan's writing is so honest, lucid and engaging that I could not put this book down until I had read to the very end." -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome -- an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms -- that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases. But this is also a human story of Ramakrishnan's unlikely journey, from his first fumbling experiments in a biology lab to being the dark horse in a fierce competition with some of the world's best scientists. In the end, Gene Machine is a frank insider's account of the pursuit of high-stakes science.

Bringing this best-selling textbook right up to date, the new edition uniquely integrates the theories and methods that drive the fields of biology, biotechnology and medicine, comprehensively covering both the techniques students will encounter in lab classes and those that underpin current key advances and discoveries. The contents have been updated to include both traditional and cutting-edge techniques most commonly used in current life science research. Emphasis is placed on understanding the theory behind the techniques, as well as analysis of the resulting data. New chapters cover proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics, as well as data analysis and visualisation. Using accessible language to describe concepts and methods, and with a wealth of new in-text worked examples to challenge students' understanding, this textbook provides an essential guide to the key techniques used in current bioscience research.

Our sharpest and most original social critic goes "undercover" as an unskilled worker to reveal the dark side of American prosperity. Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a job -- any job -- can be the ticket to a better life. But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you int to live indoors. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity" looks from the bottom. You will never see anything -- from a motel bathroom to a restaurant meal -- in quite the same way again.

This book provides an overview of the noteworthy developments in the field of micromachining, with a specific focus on microinjection systems used for biological micromanipulation. The author also explores the design, development, and fabrication of new mechanical designs for micromachines, with plenty of examples that elucidate their modeling and control. The design and fabrication of a piezoelectric microinjector, constant force microinjector, constant force microgripper, PDVF microforce sensor, and a piezoelectric microsyringe are presented as examples of new technology for microinjection systems. This book is appropriate for both researchers and advanced students in bioengineering.